RF system with an RFIC and antenna system

ABSTRACT

In accordance with an embodiment, a packaged radio frequency (RF) circuit includes a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) disposed on a substrate that has plurality of receiver circuits coupled to receive ports at a first edge of the RFIC, and a first transmit circuit coupled to a first transmit port at a second edge of the RFIC. The packaged RF circuit also includes a receive antenna system disposed on the package substrate adjacent to the first edge of the RFIC and a first transmit antenna disposed on the package substrate adjacent to the second edge of the RFIC and electrically coupled to the first transmit port of the RFIC. The receive antenna system includes a plurality of receive antenna elements that are each electrically coupled to a corresponding receive port.

This patent application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 14/954,395, filed on Nov. 30, 2015 and entitled “RF System withan RFIC and Antenna System”, which claims priority to U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 62/096,421, filed on Dec. 23, 2014, U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 62/201,895, filed on Aug. 6, 2015, and U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 62/222,058, filed on Sep. 22, 2015, all of whichapplications are hereby incorporated herein by reference in theirentirety.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application further relates to the following co-pending andcommonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/954,198, filed onNov. 30, 2015 and Ser. No. 14/954,256 filed on Nov. 30, 2015, whichapplications are hereby incorporated herein by reference in theirentirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to an electronic device, andmore particularly to a radio frequency (RF) system with an RF integratedcircuit (RFIC) and an antenna system.

BACKGROUND

Applications in the millimeter-wave frequency regime have gainedsignificant interest in the past few years due to the rapid advancementin low cost semiconductor technologies such as silicon germanium (SiGe)and fine geometry complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS)processes. Availability of high-speed bipolar and metal-oxidesemiconductor (MOS) transistors has led to a growing demand forintegrated circuits for mm-wave applications at 60 GHz, 77 GHz, and 80GHz and also beyond 100 GHz. Such applications include, for example,automotive radar systems and multi-gigabit communication systems. Insome radar systems, the distance between the radar and a target isdetermined by transmitting a frequency modulated signal, receiving areflection of the frequency modulated signal, and determining a distancebased on a time delay and/or frequency difference between thetransmission and reception of the frequency modulated signal.Accordingly, some radar systems include a transmit antenna to transmitthe RF signal, a receive antenna to receive the RF, as well as theassociated RF circuitry used to generate the transmitted signal and toreceive the RF signal. In some cases, multiple antennas may be used toimplement directional beams using phased array techniques.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with an embodiment, a packaged radio frequency (RF)circuit includes a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) disposed ona substrate that has plurality of receiver circuits coupled to receiveports at a first edge of the RFIC, and a first transmit circuit coupledto a first transmit port at a second edge of the RFIC. The packaged RFcircuit also includes a receive antenna system disposed on the packagesubstrate adjacent to the first edge of the RFIC and a first transmitantenna disposed on the package substrate adjacent to the second edge ofthe RFIC and electrically coupled to the first transmit port of theRFIC. The receive antenna system includes a plurality of receive antennaelements that are each electrically coupled to a corresponding receiveport.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the present invention, and theadvantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptionstaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 includes an embodiment radar system;

FIG. 2, which includes FIGS. 2a-2c , illustrate an embodiment RFsystem/antenna packages and corresponding circuit boards;

FIG. 3 illustrates a plan view of an embodiment RF system/antennapackage;

FIG. 4, which includes FIGS. 4a, 4b and 4c , illustrates a furtherembodiment RF system/antenna package and corresponding circuit board;

FIG. 5 illustrates an antenna pattern generated by an embodiment patchantenna system;

FIG. 6, which includes FIGS. 6a and 6b , illustrates a schematic andlayout of an embodiment radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC);

FIG. 7 illustrates a block diagram of an embodiment radar system;

FIG. 8, which includes FIGS. 8a, 8b, 8c and 8d provide diagrams thatillustrate the operation of a frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW)radar system;

FIG. 9, which includes FIGS. 9a, 9b, 9c and 9d illustrate block diagramsof embodiment radar systems and an embodiment antenna configuration;

FIG. 10, which includes FIGS. 10a, 10b, 10c and 10d illustrates circuitboards of various embodiment radar systems;

FIG. 11 illustrates a block diagram of an embodiment radar controller;

FIG. 12 illustrates a flow chart of an embodiment automatic trigger modeof operation;

FIG. 13 illustrates a flow chart of an embodiment manual trigger mode ofoperation; and

FIG. 14 illustrates a block diagram of an embodiment processing system.

Corresponding numerals and symbols in different figures generally referto corresponding parts unless otherwise indicated. The figures are drawnto clearly illustrate the relevant aspects of the preferred embodimentsand are not necessarily drawn to scale. To more clearly illustratecertain embodiments, a letter indicating variations of the samestructure, material, or process step may follow a figure number.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

The making and using of the presently preferred embodiments arediscussed in detail below. It should be appreciated, however, that thepresent invention provides many applicable inventive concepts that canbe embodied in a wide variety of specific contexts. The specificembodiments discussed are merely illustrative of specific ways to makeand use the invention, and do not limit the scope of the invention.

The present invention will be described with respect to preferredembodiments in a specific context, a system and method for a radarsystem, such as radar system used for camera sensing systems andportable consumer devices. The invention may also be applied to othersystems and applications, such as general radar systems and wirelesscommunications systems.

In embodiments of the present invention, a high frequency RF system,including RF circuitry and antennas, is implemented in a single ballgrid array (BGA) package. The RF system includes an integrated circuithaving a receive interface on a first edge of chip and transmitinterfaces on adjacent or opposite edges of the chip. A multi-elementpatch antenna is disposed on a surface of the package adjacent to thefirst edge of the chip, and is coupled to multiple receive channelinterfaces at the first edge of the chip. Similarly, patch antennas fortransmitting signals are disposed on the redistribution layer of thepackage on the adjacent or opposite edges of the chip adjacent to thetransmit interfaces. In one embodiment, at least one transmit channelmay be used to selectively transmit an incident radar signal or a datasignal. In other embodiments of the present invention, the integratedcircuit may be mounted directly on a circuit board adjacent to amulti-element patch antenna disposed on the circuit board.

In order to provide isolation between the transmit antennas and thereceive antennas, a ground wall is disposed in the package adjacent tothe first edge. This ground wall may be implemented using ground layersin the redistribution layer and/or by using an array of solder ballsthat are grounded. In addition, dummy solder balls may be used toprovide mechanical stability to the package in the fan out area,especially in regions of the package adjacent to the patch antennas.

In an embodiment, beam forming concepts, which are widely used in radarsystems, may be used to impart beam steering and directionality to thetransmission and reception of RF signals. Such embodiments may beapplied, for example, to automotive radar, camera systems, portablesystems, wearable devices, TV sets, tablet computers, and otherapplications. For example, in a camera system, the radar system may beused to determine a distance to a photographed object in order todetermine focus and exposure settings. This distance may be determinedaccurately and with high resolution using an embodiment 60 GHz radarsystem with a bandwidth of between about 2 GHz and 8 GHz, for example, 7GHz bandwidth. Such distance information may also be used for a smartsensing system where the radar ranging data are merged with camera data.

Embodiment beam forming concepts may also be used to implement a gesturerecognition system. In the past, gesture recognition systems have beenimplemented using optical cameras, pressure sensors, PALs and otherdevices. By using embodiment radar systems, a gesture recognition systemmay perform accurate distance measurements, while being convenientlyhidden behind an opaque cover made of plastic or other sturdy materials.

FIG. 1 illustrates radar system 100 according to an embodiment of thepresent invention. As shown, radar transceiver device 102 is configuredto transmit an incident RF signal toward object 132 via transmit antenna120 a and/or transmit antenna 120 b, and receive a reflected RF signalvia an antenna array that includes receive antennas 122 a-d. Radartransceiver device 102 includes receiver front end 112 coupled toreceive antennas 122 a-d, first transmitter front end 104 coupled totransmit antenna 120 a and second transmitter front end no coupled totransmit antenna 120 b. Radar circuitry 106 provides signals to betransmitted to first and second transmitter front ends 104 and no andreceives and/or processes signals received by receiver front end 112.

In an embodiment, the input to second transmitter front end no isselectable between an output of radar circuitry 106 and an output ofcommunication circuitry 108 via a circuit represented by switch 109.When second transmitter front end no receives input from radar circuitry106, both first transmitter front end 104 and second transmitter frontend 110 can be used to build a holographic radar. On the other hand,when second transmitter front end no receives it input fromcommunication circuitry 108, first transmitter front end 104 provides aradar signal to transmit antenna 120 a and second transmitter front endno provides a communications signal to transmit antenna 120 b. Thiscommunications signal may be a carrier modulated signal. In one example,the second transmitter front end no may transmit a bipolar phase-shiftkeyed (BPSK) modulated signal to satellite radar device 130 thatcontains data. In some embodiments, a data link between radartransceiver device 102 and satellite radar device 130 may be used tocoordinate RF transmission and reception between radar transceiverdevice 102 and satellite radar device 130 to implement phase array beamsteering. In some embodiments, satellite radar device 130 may also becapable of data transmission and radar transceiver device 102 may beconfigured to receive data from satellite radar device 130 via antennas122 a-d.

In an embodiment, radar transceiver device 102, or portions of radartransceiver device 102 may be implemented in a package that containsfirst transmitter front end 104, second transmitter front end no,receiver front end 112, as well as transmit antennas 120 a and 120 b andreceive antennas 122 a-d. FIG. 2a illustrates a cross section of a ballgrid array (BGA) package that contains radar circuitry 106 and patchantennas 208 that are used to implement antennas 120 a, 120 b and 122a-d. In alternative embodiments, other antenna elements may be usedbesides patch antennas, for example, a Yagi-Uda antenna may be usedprovide sensing from the side of the packaged chip and antenna module.As shown, packaged chip and antenna module 202 is coupled to circuitboard 204 via solder balls 210.

In an embodiment, the frequency of operation of radar system 100, aswell as other embodiments, disclosed herein, is between about 57 GHz andabout 66 GHz. Alternatively, embodiment systems may operate atfrequencies outside of this range also.

FIG. 2b illustrates a plan view of packaged chip and antenna module 202.As shown RF chip 206 is disposed on package redistribution layer 220 andhas receiver front end 112 disposed on a first edge of RF chip 206,first transmitter front end 104 coupled to a second edge that isadjacent to the first edge of RF chip 206, and second transmitter frontend no coupled to a third edge that is also adjacent to the first edgeof radar circuitry 106. Alternatively, a transmitter circuit could alsobe coupled to a fourth edge opposite the first edge of RF chip 206.

Receive patch antenna 222 is positioned on the same side as the firstedge of RF chip 206, but is separated by ground wall 212 that providesisolation between receive patch antenna 222 and RF chip 206, and betweenreceive patch antenna 222 and transmit patch antennas 214 and 216.Ground wall 212 may be implemented, for example, using grounded solderballs 210 g, and/or via grounded conductive layers within packageredistribution layer 220. As shown, transmit patch antenna 214 iscoupled to first transmitter front end 104 and is disposed adjacent tothe same edge of RF chip 206 as first transmitter front end 104.Similarly, transmit patch antenna 216 is coupled to first transmitterfront end 104 and is disposed adjacent to the same edge of RF chip 206as first transmitter front end 104.

Dummy solder balls 210 d are disposed in the fan out area of the packageadjacent to receive patch antenna 222 and provide mechanical stabilityto packaged chip and antenna module 202. Similarly, corner solder balls210 c provide mechanical stability to the package, as well as providingsupport to the corners of package redistribution layer 220 when packagedchip and antenna module 202 is installed on and soldered to a printedcircuit board (PCB). In some embodiment, dummy solder balls 210 d andcorner solder ball 210 c alleviate mechanical stress on connectionsolder balls 210 r that provide electrical connections to RF chip 206,thereby allowing package redistribution layer 220 to withstand variousmechanical stresses, such as repeated temperature cycling.

FIG. 2c illustrates an embodiment radar transceiver device 250 thatincludes RF chip 251 disposed on redistribution layer or substrate 253.Transmit receive patch antenna 252 and receive patch antennas 254 and256 are coupled to RF chip 251 and have radiation pattern 270 in the zdirection. In addition, transmit receive Yagi-Uda antenna 252 andreceive Yagi-Uda antennas 258 and 260 are coupled to RF chip 251 andhave radiation pattern 272 in the y direction. In some embodiments,receive patch antennas 254 and 256 and Yagi-Uda antennas 258 and 260combine to form a “half-ball” radiation pattern 274.

FIG. 3 illustrates package substrate 300 according to another embodimentof the present invention. As shown, RF chip 304 is disposed on packagesubstrate 300, and is coupled to transmit patch antenna 310 a andtransmit patch antenna 310 b via transmit circuits TX1 and TX2,respectively. Receive patch antenna system 306 that includes receivepatch antennas 308 a-d is coupled to receive circuits RX1, RX2, RX3 andRX4 on RF chip 304. As shown, the layout of package substrate 300provides isolation between receive patch antenna system 306 and transmitpatch antennas 310 a and 310 b by geometrically spacing the antennasapart and by isolating the antennas via ground wall 314. In anembodiment, ground wall 314 is implemented using an array of groundedsolder balls.

In addition to solder balls 316 that provide electrical connections toRF chip 304, dummy solder balls 312 disposed adjacent to receive patchantenna system 306 and corner dummy solder ball 318 provide mechanicalstability to the package, as well as providing additional mechanicalconnections and alignment ability to the board to which packagesubstrate 300 is soldered. In one embodiment, the physical dimensions ofpackage substrate 300 are about 14 mm by 14 mm. Alternatively, packagesubstrate 300 may be a different size.

In an embodiment, receive patch antenna system 306 includes square patchantennas 308 a, 308 b, 308 c and 308 d that are arranged in a squareconfiguration have centers that are spaced apart some multiple orfraction x of wavelength λ of the signal frequency being transmitted bythe RF system. In some embodiments x is between about ½ and about ⅔.Alternatively, x may be outside of this range. In alternativeembodiments, greater or fewer than four patch antennas may be used toimplement receive patch antenna system 306 depending on thespecifications of the particular system.

FIG. 4a illustrates a cross-sectional view of an embodiment RFsystem/antenna package 420 disposed on a circuit board 424. In aspecific embodiment directed toward an embedded wafer level ball gridarray (eWLB) package, RF system/antenna package 420 includes a moldingmaterial layer 402 that is about 450 μm thick and a low temperaturecoefficient (LTC) layer 404 disposed beneath molding material layer thatis about 20 μm thick. Various patch antennas are implemented using a 7.5μm redistribution layer (RDL) 406. In an embodiment, an RF chip 410 thatincludes the various transmit and receive circuits is disposed within acavity within molding material 402. In some embodiments, RFsystem/antenna package 420 may include further conductive layers usedfor routing and/or for the implementation of various passive deviceswithin the substrate of the package. In alternative embodiments of thepresent invention, other package types such as a BGA or Advanced ThinSmall Leadless ATSPL package may also be used.

In an embodiment, the RF system/antenna package 420 is mounted oncircuit board 424 via solder balls 408. Circuit board 424 may beimplemented using FR4 material 412 disposed on copper ground layer 414.Alternatively, other materials such as Rogers PCB material may be used.In some embodiments, circuit board 424 may include additional conductiveand insulating layers as known in the art. FR4 material 412 may be about165 μm thick and copper ground layer 414 may be about 35μ thick in someimplementations, however, other thicknesses may be used. In anembodiment, the bottom portion of RF system/antenna package 420 isspaced about 250μ, from the top portion of circuit board 424 in order toprovide a large enough gap between the antenna patch and copper groundlayer 414. Such spacing may be further enhanced by having copper groundlayer 414 as the bottom layer of circuit board 424.

FIG. 4b illustrates a cutaway three-dimensional view of RFsystem/antenna package 420 disposed on circuit board 424. The section ofRF system/antenna package 420 that houses chip 410 is denoted as region422 to show the relative position of chip 410 to the remaining portionsof RF system/antenna package 420. FIG. 4c illustrates a cross-sectionalview of RF system/antenna package 420 mounted on circuit board 424 viasolder balls 408.

It should be understood that the various example physical dimensions andthe various materials used for the various layers of the RFsystem/antenna package 420 and the board on which the RF system/antennapackage is disposed are only specific examples. In alternativeembodiments of the present invention, other physical dimensions andsuitable materials may be used for the various layers.

FIG. 5 illustrates a three-dimensional plot showing the antenna pattern500 for the embodiment four-element receive antenna system 306 shown inFIG. 3. As shown, the antenna pattern 500 has a main lobe directed inthe Z direction and side lobes that intersect the X-axis and Y-axis. Inan embodiment, each side lobe corresponds to each of the four receivepatch antennas. It should be understood that patch antennas according toalternative embodiments may have different antenna patterns.

FIG. 6a illustrates embodiment RFIC 600 that may be used to implementthe RF chips shown in various embodiments described above. In anembodiment, RFIC 600 includes four receive channels disposed along thetop edge of RFIC 600, and two transmit channels disposed on the left andright side of RFIC 600, respectively. As shown, each of the respectivereceive channels include a respective transformer 602 and mixer 604 thatdownconverts respective RF signals received at pins RF_RX1, RF_RX2,RF_RX3 and RF_RX4 to an intermediate frequency at lines IF1, IF2, IF3and IF4. A first transmit channel includes transformer 624 and poweramplifier 622 that provides a signal to pins RF_TX1 p and RF_TX1 n, anda second transmit channel includes transformer 618 and mixer 616. In anembodiment, mixer 616 is activated in order to modulate a carrier usingbipolar phase shift keyed (BPSK) data introduced at pins BPSK.Accordingly, mixer 616 may function as a BPSK modulator. In one specificexample, a data rate of about 1000 MBs supported using mixer 616. Inalternative embodiments, data may be modulated at other data rates andusing other modulation schemes. When mixer 616 is not activated, forexample, during periods of time in which the second transmit channelprovides an incident radar signal, the signal provided by localoscillator (LO) buffer 612 is provided to output pins RF_TX2 p andRF_TX2 n.

The first and second transmit channels may further include respectivepower sensors 626 and 620 to measure transmitted power, which may beimplemented using power sensor circuits and systems known in the art.Such power sensors may include, but are not limited to diode detectorsand logarithmic power detectors. The outputs of power sensor 626 and620, as well as the output of temperature sensor 630 are selectable atan external pin via multiplexer 634. In some embodiments, the outputamplitudes of the first and second transmit channels may be adjustedusing digital-to-analog converters 614. Such adjustments to the outputamplitudes may be made based on power measured by power sensors 620 and626.

In an embodiment, the LO signal coupled to the various mixers andtransmitters has a frequency of between about 57 GHz and about 66 GHz,however, frequencies outside of this range may also be used depending onthe particular embodiment and its specifications. As shown, the LOsignal is generated using VCO 636 and is first buffered by LO buffer 628prior to being split by power splitter 608. As shown, a 3-way Wilkinsonpower splitter is used; however, in other embodiments the Wilkinsonpower splitter may split the LO signal into greater or fewer outputsthan three. Moreover, other power splitter circuits, systems topologiesknown in the art may be used. In an embodiment, the frequency of VCO 636is tuned using an external phase locked loop (PLL) circuit (not shown)via pin Vtune. The output of power splitter 608 is coupled to the outputof LO buffers 606, 610 and 612.

Frequency divider 632 may be used to provide a divided output to theexternal PLL circuit. In one specific embodiment, the divider ratio offrequency divider 632 is selectable between 16 and 8192. Alternatively,other divider ratios may be used depending on the particular applicationand its specifications. In further alternative embodiments, theremaining PLL components, such as a phase detector and a charge pump,may also be disposed on RFIC 600.

In an embodiment, the various modes and functions of RFIC 600 may bedigitally controlled via serial peripheral interface (SPI) 638.Alternatively, other interfaces, such as an I2C interface MIPI/RFFEcould be used.

FIG. 6b illustrates an example layout of RFIC 600 that corresponds tothe schematic shown in FIG. 6a . In an embodiment, RFIC 600 isimplemented in a SiGe process. Alternatively, other processes may beused to implement RFIC 600.

FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment radar-based gesture recognition system700 using embodiment concepts. As shown, radar transceiver device 702 isconfigured to transmit an incident RF signal toward a gesturing hand 732via transmit antenna 720 a and/or transmit antenna 720 b, and receive areflected RF signal via an antenna array that includes receive antennas722 a-d. Radar transceiver device 702 includes receiver front end 712coupled to receive antennas 722 a-d, first transmitter front end 704coupled to transmit antenna 720 a and second transmitter front end 710coupled to transmit antenna 120 b. Radar circuitry 706 provides signalsto be transmitted to first and second transmitter front ends 704 and 710and receives signals via receiver front end 712. Processing circuitry708 processes the received signals, as well as controlling thetransmissions produced by first transmitter front-end 704 and secondtransmitter front end 710. In some embodiments, radar-based gesturerecognition system 700 is implemented as a frequency modulatedcontinuous wave (FMCW) radar sensor having two transmit channels andfour receive changes to realize a digital beam forming holographic radarsuch that a relative speed, distance, and phase of each target in thefield of view (FOV) in front of the antennas is measured.

During operation, the position and gestures of hand 732 may be detectedby radar transceiver device 702 and/or other processing circuitrycoupled thereto. For example, radar transceiver device 702 may becoupled to a computer system, appliance, or other device, and thedetected gestures may be used as input to the computer system or variousdevice. For example, a gesture of two fingers tapping each other couldbe interpreted as a “button press,” or a gesture of a rotating thumb andfinger may be interpreted as a turning a dial.

Similar to other embodiments described herein, radar transceiver device702, or portions of radar transceiver device 702 may be implemented in apackage that contains first transmitter front end 704, secondtransmitter front end 710, receiver front end 712, as well as transmitantennas 720 a and 720 b and receive antennas 722 a-d. In someembodiments, radar transceiver device 702 may be implemented as one ormore integrated circuits disposed on a circuit board, and transmitantennas 720 a and 720 b and receive antennas 722 a-d may be implementedon the circuit board adjacent to the integrated circuits.

FIGS. 8a-8d illustrate the fundamental operation of an FMCW radar. FIG.8a illustrates a simplified diagram of an FMCW radar system 800 thatincludes processor 802, transmit circuit 804, transmit antenna 808,receive circuit 806 and receive antenna 810. During operation, transmitcircuit 804 transmits a RF signal having a variable frequency that isreflected by close target 812 and far target 814. The reflected RFenergy is received by antenna 810 and receive circuit 806, and thereceived signal is processed by processor 802, which performs varioustarget classification algorithms known in the art.

FIG. 8b illustrates a waveform diagram of an FMCW system. Signal 822represents the frequency of the radar signal transmitted by transmitcircuit 804, signal 824 represents the frequency of the signal reflectedby close target 812 and signal 826 represents the signal reflected byfar target 814. The delay from the transmission of the transmit signalto the receipt of the signal reflected by close target 812 is t_(a) andthe delay from the transmitted signal to the receipt of the signalreflected by far target 814 is t_(b). These time delays in receptioncause a frequency offset between the transmitted signal and the receivedsignal. In various embodiments, the transmitted signal is mixed with thereceived signal to create an intermediate frequency signal thatrepresents the difference in frequency between the transmitted signaland the received signal. As shown, the difference in frequency from thetransmitted signal 822 to the received reflected signal 824 from theclose target 812 is IF_(1a) and the difference in frequency from thetransmitted signal 822 to the received reflected signal 826 from the fartarget 814 is IF_(1b). As shown, the bandwidth BW of the FMCW radarsystem is related to the difference between the maximum and minimumtransmitted signal.

As shown, in FIG. 8c , the resolution of the FMCW system is related tothe above-mentioned bandwidth BW of the system. In particular, the rangeresolution of can be expressed as:

$\begin{matrix}{{{\Delta\; R} = {\frac{c}{2{BW}} = \frac{c}{2\Delta\; f}}},} & (1)\end{matrix}$where c is the speed of light and Δf is the different between theminimum and maximum frequency of the ramped frequency. In embodiments,the minimum distance between two close targets that can be distinguishedis ΔR. As shown in FIG. 8d , the minimum and maximum distance that canbe discerned by embodiments FMCW systems is 50 cm and 5 m, respectively.

FIG. 9a illustrates a block diagram of embodiment radar system 900 thatmay be used, for example, in an embodiment gesture recognition system.As shown, radar system 900 includes an RF front end 902 coupled to abaseband processing circuit 901. The receive path of radar system 900includes receive antennas 924 a-d, 922 a d, a receive signal path withinRF front end 902, bandpass filter 912 and a four channelanalog-to-digital converter (ADC) within baseband processing circuit 901that digitizes the output of bandpass filter 912. This digitized receivesignal may be further processed by FFT core 925 and various otherdigital signal processing elements within baseband processing circuit901.

The transmit path includes clock generation circuits that may be sharedbetween various elements of radar system 900, as well as transmitantennas 920 a and 920 b. In one embodiment, a swept frequency signal isgenerated using phase locked loop (PLL) circuit 910 to control anon-board VCO within RF front end 902. As shown, PLL 910 is referenced tocrystal oscillator 908, which also provides a clock to basebandprocessing circuit 901 via clock divider 914. In an alternativeembodiment, a software PLL implemented within baseband processingcircuit 901 controls the frequency of the on-board VCO within RFfront-end 902 via digital-to-analog converter (DAC) 916 and lowpassfilter and/or integrator 906. Separate voltage regulators 932, 934 and936 may be used to provide a regulated power supply voltage tor RF frontend 902, analog circuitry within baseband processing circuit 901 anddigital circuits within baseband processing circuitry 901, respectively.

In an embodiment, RF front end 902 may be implemented using packaged RFsystems/antenna packages described herein. For example, an RFICaccording to the embodiment of FIGS. 6a and 6b may be disposed within anembodiment packaged antenna or may be mounted on a circuit board havingpatch antennas.

In an embodiment, radar system 900 uses fast chirps to scan the field ofview (FOV). For example, the frequency generation circuitry of radarsystem 900 may be configured to sweep 7 GHz in 125 us. Alternatively,other frequency ranges and sweep times may be used. By using relativelyfast chirps which may also be referred to as a compressed pulse, a lowerpeak power may be produced, which makes it easier to meet variousemission mask requirements over frequency. Moreover, by using a sweptfrequency signal, a sharp pulse generator is not used in someembodiments.

As mentioned above, radar system 900 may utilize PLL 910, which may beimplemented as a fractional N PLL in some embodiments. In one example,the fractional N PLL is implemented using a 64 GHz VCO followed by adivider having a divide ratio of 16 that produces an output frequency ofabout 4 GHz. In some embodiments, the VCO and dividers may beimplemented within RF front end circuit 902 in a similar manner as RFIC600 shown in FIG. 6a , and the phase-frequency detector (PFD), chargepump and loop filter are implemented within PLL 910. Alternatively,other VCO frequencies and divider ratios may be chosen taking intoaccount, for example, the minimum divider ratio of the PLL in fractionalmode, the PLL loop bandwidth, the highest PFD frequency to lower the inband phase noise and shift the spurs to high freq, the frequencyresolution during ramp, and availability of low noise compact highfrequency crystal oscillators. In the illustrated embodiment, crystaloscillator 908 produces a frequency of 80 MHz, however, other crystaloscillator frequencies may be used in other embodiments.

In other embodiments, a software PLL may be used. As shown, the softwarePLL has a loop that includes RF front-end circuit 902 (including a VCOand divider), an ADC 922 that samples the output of the divider of RFfront-end 902, a microcontroller that applies an algorithm for tuningfrequency linearization, DAC 916 and lowpass filter and/or integrator906 that provides a tuning voltage for the VCO within RF front-endcircuit 902. In some embodiments, RF system 900 may be configured tohave both PLL 910, and a software PLL that utilizes DAC 916 and low passfilter and/or integrator 906, such that either one is selected foroperation.

In an embodiment in which crystal oscillator 908 produces a clock havingan RMS jitter of about 2 ps at 80 MHz, the divider ratio of theprescaler may be selected in a way that the jitter associated to thesignal is one order of magnitude larger than the jitter associated tocrystal oscillator 908. As such, the jitter of sampling the ADC 922 hasa lower impact on performance. In some cases, the divider ratio of theprescaler is selected to be large enough to sensure that the outputfrequency falls within the bandwidth of the ADC. In one embodiment, adivider ratio of 8172 is used such that the output frequency of theprescaler is in the range of 7 MHz. In some embodiments, the sample rateof ADC 922 may be selected such that an output frequency of RF front-end902 is undersampled. For example, in an embodiments, an output of 7 MHzis sampled at a sampling rate of about 2 Msps. Alternatively, otherdivider ratios, output frequencies and sampling frequencies may be useddepending on the particular embodiment and it specifications.

In an embodiment, variable gain amplifier (VGA) 921 is coupled betweenthe intermediate frequency (IF) output of RF front-end 902 and ADC 922in order to scale gain of the IF signal such that the full dynamic rangeof the IF signal corresponds to a full scale in put of ADC 922. Bandpassfilter 912 may be coupled prior to the ADC in order to prevent aliasingand/or to limit the frequency content of the IF signal to a scanningrange of interest. For example, in one embodiment, the bandpass filter912 has a minimum frequency of about 8 KHz and a maximum frequency osabout 250 KHz in order to limit the frequency content to a scanningrange of interest, such as 5 cm to 1 m. Alternatively, other bandwidthsmay be used to facilitate other scanning ranges.

In an embodiment, voltage regulators 932, 934 and 936 may be implementedusing power supply circuits and systems known in the art. For example,low dropout (LDO) regulators may be used to provide DC voltages of about3.3 V for various components. In some embodiments, a charge pump may beused to provide higher local voltages. For example, in embodiments thatutilize a VCO having a higher tuning voltage, a charge pump may be usedto convert a 3.3 V power supply voltage up to 5 V in order to use thefull tuning range of the VCO. It should be understood that 3.3 V and 5 Vare only illustrative examples and other voltages may be generated inother embodiments systems.

In an embodiment, baseband processing circuit 901 may further include auniversal serial bus (USB) interface 918 in order to facilitatecommunication with embodiment radar system 900. For example, the stateof radar system 900 may be set, and measured data may be received usingUSB interface 918. USB interface 918 may be implemented using USBinterface circuits known in the art. Baseband processing circuitry 901may also include serial peripheral interface (SPI) 920 in order tocontrol RF front end 902 via SPI interface 904, as well as to controlother system components such as VGA 921 and PLL 910. Lookup table (LUT)917 may also be included in basenad processing circuitry 901 in order toquickly determine various antenna configurations of RF front end 902.

In one example, radar system 900 may be configured to have a maximumrange R_(max) of about 50 cm by having a modulation bandwidth about 7GHz, which corresponds to a range resolution about 2 cm according toequation (1) above. Thus, a maximum detection range R_(max) of 50 cmcorresponds to 25 range gates.

In an embodiment, the minimum IF frequency and the maximum IFfrequencies can be expressed as:

$\begin{matrix}{{{IF}_{\min} = {\frac{BW}{\tau}\frac{2\Delta\; R}{c}}},} & (2) \\{{{IF}_{\max} = {\frac{BW}{\tau}\frac{2R_{\max}}{c}}},} & (3)\end{matrix}$

According to equations (2) and (3) above, for a bandwidth of 7 GHz and asweep time of τ=125 μs, minimum IF frequency IF_(min) is about 8 KHz andmaximum IF frequency IF_(max) is about 200 KHz. In some embodiments,minimum IF frequency IF_(min) is selected in order to shift thefrequency content of the received signals to be above the 1/f noisecorner frequency of the received IF output. In some cases, a lower 1/fnoise corner frequency corresponds to slower frequency ramps. Thus,devices having lower 1/f noise corner frequencies, such as SiGe bipolartransistors, may be compatible with embodiment RF systems having lowerbandwidths. Conversely, technologies having higher 1/f noise cornerfrequencies, such as CMOS may be supported using faster ramps and higherbandwidths.

In the present example, a sample rate of 2 Ms/s may be used for the ADCs922, which provides lox oversampling ratio to avoid aliasing. Moreover,the IF frequency IF_(min) and maximum IF frequency IF_(max) may be usedto shape the bandpass filter 912 that precedes ADCs 922.

On the transmit side, a 7 GHz bandwidth may be implemented using a VCOhaving a tuning range between about 0.5 V and about 5.5V, and a minimumgain K_(vco) of about 1 GHz/V. The tuning voltage may be produced usingDAC 916 and level shifter. In one embodiment, two 12-bit DACs operatingat 5 Ms/s are used to provide a tuning voltage for the VCO. At 5 Ms/s, a125 μs frequency sweep corresponds to about 625 points, or about 1.25 kBto be stored in the LUT of the microcontroller for both 12-bit DACs.Under these assumptions, the frequency step between two adjacentfrequency points is about 5.6 MHz. In one embodiment, the time constantof about 130 ns is used for integrator 906.

In a further example, radar system 900 may be configured to have amaximum range R_(max) of about 5 m by having a modulation bandwidthabout 7 GHz, which corresponds to a range resolution about 2 cmaccording to equation (1) above. Thus, a maximum detection range R_(max)of 5 m corresponds to 250 range gates.

According to equations (2) and (3) above, for a bandwidth of 7 GHz and asweep time of τ=250 μs, minimum IF frequency IF_(min) is about 4 KHz andmaximum IF frequency IF_(max) is about 1 MHz. In one example, a samplerate of between about 2 Ms/s and about 2.4 Ms/s may be used for the ADCs922, which an oversampling ratio of between 2× and 2.4× to avoidaliasing.

On the transmit side, a 7 GHz bandwidth may be implemented using a VCOhaving a tuning range between about 0.5 V and about 5.5V, and a minimumgain K_(vco) of about 1 GHz/V, where the tuning voltage is provided bytwo 12-bit DACs operating at 5 Ms/s as in the previous example.Alternatively a bandwidth lower than 7 GHz may be used. For example, insome embodiments, bandwidths of between 2 GHz and 8 GHz may be used.Alternatively, bandwidths outside of this range may also be useddepending on the particular system and its specification. At 5 Ms/s, a250 μs frequency sweep corresponds to about 1250 points, or about 2.5 kBto be stored in the LUT of the microcontroller for both 12-bit DACs.Under these assumptions, the frequency step between two adjacentfrequency points is about 2.8 MHz. In one embodiment, the time constantof about 250 ns is used for integrator 906.

It should be understood that the various parameters described above arejust a couple of examples of parameters that may be applied toembodiment radar systems. In alternative embodiments, other bandwidths,tuning ranges, IF frequencies, sampling rates, bit resolutions, sweeptimes, and LUT widths may be used.

FIG. 9b illustrates a block diagram of an embodiment radar system 950that shows one way that the system of FIG. 9a may be implemented. Asshown, radar system 950 includes an RF front-end 952 coupled to amicrocontroller integrated circuit (IC) 954. RF front-end 952 includes atransceiver circuit 958 that includes four receive channels Rx1-Rx4 andtwo transmit channels Tx1 and Tx2. Alternatively, transceiver circuit958 may include greater or fewer transmit and/or receive channels.Transceiver circuit 958 may be implemented on a signal integratedcircuit or using multiple integrated and/or discrete circuits.

Microcontroller integrated circuit 954 includes ADC circuits 960 thatconvert the IF output of transceiver 958 from the analog to the digitaldomain. The digital output of ADC circuits 960 may be routed directly toUSB interface 966, or may be routed to digital processing block 962. Asumming block 964 may be coupled between digital processing block 962and USB interface 966. In alternative embodiments, USB interface 966 maybe implemented using other types of parallel or serial interfaces suchas a low voltage differential signaling (LVDS) or a mobile industryprocessor interface (MIPI).

In some embodiments, low dropout regulator 956 provides a power supplyvoltage to RF front-end 952 and microcontroller intergrated circuit 954.In various embdiments, microcontroller integrated circuit 954 may beimplemented using general purpose or application specific integratedcircuits.

During operation, transceiver circuit 958 receives a timing referencefrom software PLL 965 in order generate a signal of varying frequencyfor transmission from transmit channels Tx1 and Tx2. This signal ofvarying frequency may be a ramped sine wave or other suitable signal forradar transmission. In an embodiment, the timing reference may be acontrol voltage for a VCO (not shown) within RF front-end 952.

In some embodiments, microcontroller intergrated circuit 954 may be usedto control the RF front-end, a VGA (not shown) coupled between thetransceiver circuit 958 and ADC circuits 960, the software PLL 965.Alternatively, the VGA may be disposed on an external circuit or on RFfront-end 952. In various embodiments, microcontroller integratedcircuit 954 may also be configured to control other circuits disposed ona system board that houses other components of the embodiment radarsystem.

Microcontroller integrated circuit 954 may be implemented using ageneral purpose integrated circuit, or may be implemented using anapplication specific integrated circuit. In various embodiments,microcontroller integrated circuit 954 may include firmware that isstored in a programmable non-volatile memory, such as flash memory. Thisfirmware may be used, for example, to configure radar system 950 duringoperation, and may be used to enable the functionality that generatesthe raw data of the radar system 950.

In an embodiment, transceiver circuit 958 is coupled to an antennaarray, and is configured to provide a directional beam using phase arraytechniques known in the art. For example, various delays may be appliedto the reception of receive channels Rx1 to Rx4. The reception angle θis based on the relative delays between each receive channel, thewavelength λ of the received signal, and the distance d between antennaelements. In some embodiments, microcontroller integrated circuit 954includes a FMCW generator coupled to software PLL that implementsfrequency generation of the various embodiment FMCW schemes describedherein.

FIG. 9c illustrates a block diagram of a software PLL 970 that may beused in various embodiment RF systems. Software PLL includes a highfrequency portion 972, baseband portion 971 and external lowpass filter986. In various embodiments, high frequency portion 972 may beimplemented on a front-end integrated circuit such as RF front-end 902shown in FIG. 9a , and baseband portion 971 may be implemented on abaseband circuit such as baseband processing circuit 901. Duringoperation, VCO 974 provides a local oscillator output signal LO having afrequency that is set according to input voltage Vtune. Local oscillatorsignal LO is divided using divider 976 to produce divided signal DivOut,which is digitized via ADC 978. The function of ADC 978 may beimplemented by using ADC 921 shown in FIG. 9a , for example, by timemultiplexing samples or may be implemented using a separateanalog-to-digital converter. A Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) 980 is takenof the digitized divider output, and lookup table 982 is used to map theoutput of FFT to a control voltage to be produced by DAC 984. Lowpassfilter 986 may be used to thermal noise and quantization noise from theoutput of DAC 984 in order to ensure good phase noise performance. Invarious embodiments, FFT 980 may be implemented using digital signalprocessing hardware and software known in the art.

In one embodiment that utilizes a software PLL, the followingassumpation is made regarding the phase noise of a 60 GHz VCO:

PNssb @10 kHz=−50 dBc/Hz;

PNssb @100 kHz=−80 dBc/Hz;

PNssb @1 MHz=−100 dBc/Hz; and

PNssb @10 MHz=−120 dBc/Hz.

As shown in FIG. 9d , synthetic receiving channels may be implemented bytransmitting a radar signal from transmit antennas T1 and T2 at separatetimes. For example, during a first time period, a first radar signal istransmitted over antenna T1 and not over antenna T2, and the resultingreflected signal is captured by antenna elements R1, R2, R3 and R4 forform a first set of received signals. During a second time period, asecond radar signal is transmitted over antenna T2 and not over antennaT1, and the resulting reflected signal is captured by antenna elementsR1, R2, R3 and R4 for form a second set of received signals. Because ofthe spatial difference between antennas T1 and T2, the first and secondset of received signals may be combined to produce spatial informationof the various targets being sensed and monitored by the embodimentradar system.

FIG. 10a illustrates a circuit board 1000 of an embodiment radar systemon which transmit patch antenna 1002 and 1004 and receive patch antennas1006 are disposed on the circuit board. In some embodiments, circuitboard 1000 may be implemented using a low Π_(r) PCB material such asRogers 3003 series PCB material. Also shown on circuit board woo is RFfront-end IC 1022, PLL IC 1010, integrator IC 1008 that may be used tosupport PLL IC 1010, VGA 1012, microcontroller 1014 and low dropoutvoltage regulators 1016, 1018 and 1020. In embodiments in which patchantennas are used, the ground plane of the layer stack may be optimizedin order to cover the complete modulated bandwidth. In variousembodiments, the distance between the antenna layer and the ground onthe PCB is several hundreds of microns, which enables a gap thatprovides for sufficient bandwidth and gain for the antenna element. Inorder to achieve such a gap the ground plane may be placed on the secondlayer of the PCB. Some embodiment circuit boards may include blind viasunderneath RF front-end IC 1022 and around microcontroller 1014 in orderto transfer heat to the lower layer of the PCB where conductive layer,such as aluminum, is used to spread the heat generated by the radarcircuitry.

FIG. 10b illustrates a circuit board 1050 of an embodiment radar systemin which all patch antennas are embedded within the package 1030 thathouses the RF front-end. FIG. 10c illustrates an angled view and a crosssection of a circuit board 1050 on which a package 1054 is disposed. Inan embodiment, package 1054 includes RF front-end IC 1052 as well asvarious patch antennas. Such embodiments may apply principles ofdescribed hereinabove with respect to the embodiments of FIGS. 2, 3 and4.

FIG. 10d illustrates a bare circuit board that corresponds to theembodiment of FIG. 10b . As shown, the landing area on which the RFfront-end IC is disposed includes ground planes under a first layer ofFR4 material, as well as thermal vias.

FIG. 11 illustrates a block diagram of the control architecture 1100 ofan embodiment system. In an embodiment, the control architecture may beimplemented using a microcontroller, microprocessor, and other controlcircuitry known in the art. The control architecture may be programmedusing software or firmware that is saved on a non-transitory computerreadable medium such as non-volatile memory, or may be loaded intovolatile memory when the system is powered up.

Radar system 1104 is responsible for the overall flow control andcoordination of all firmware modules, and frame sequencer 1108 is usedto process chirps and to provide data post processing in real time.Antenna controller 1112 is used to enable the receive and transmitantennas and to provide power control for the analog and RF circuitrywithin the embodiment radar system. Chirp generator 1110 is configuredto control a hardware PLL chip and/or may be configured to DAC data forsoftware chirp generation.

Communication protocol 1102 provides interaction with a host computerand may be configured to format message data, and to check dataintegrity; and target detection algorithm 1106 provides digital signalprocessing (DSP) functions for post-processing sampled IF data, and maybe configured to detected targets and gestures. Front end chip driver1114 interfaces with Front end configuration registers and sets up SPIdata to be communicated over the SPI interface with the Front endconfiguration registers. In an embodiment, PLL chip driver 1113interfaces with the PLL chip configuration register, as well as settingup data to be communicated over the SPI interface to the PLL chip. SPIdriver 1120 handles the low level peripheral register settings to senddata over the SPI interface, and ADC driver 1122 handles low levelperipheral register settings for the ADC, as well as setting up directmemory access (DMA) for the ADC. DAC driver 1118 handles low-levelperipheral register settings for the DAC, and timer driver 1124generates signals at defined intervals for real time processing. Timerdriver 1124 may also generate a sample clock for the ADC. USB/VCOM block1116 handles low-level USB peripheral register settings and implements aUSB communication stack.

In various embodiments, control architecture 1100 may control anembodiment radar system in an automatic trigger mode or in a manualtrigger mode. In the automatic trigger mode, the controller sets up asequence of chirps that build a frame and processes the frames at afixed user defined interval. During operation, raw data is sent to anexternal host computer and/or the raw data is processed to detecttargets and gestures, in which case processed target and gesture data issent to the external host computer. Reconfiguration of the antenna setupmay occur between chirps of a frame.

In an embodiment, the frame sequencer starts operating upon receiving astart command from the external host computer and continues operationuntil a stop command is received from the external host computer. Insome embodiments, the frame sequencer stops automatically after a givennumber of frames. In order to save power, the controller may partiallyturn-off RF circuitry between frames.

FIG. 12 illustrates a flow diagram 1200 of an embodiment automatictrigger mode of operation. Boxes along lines 1202, 1204 and 1206indicate the flow of data at each step. A box on line 1202 representsactivity performed by communication protocol block 1102, and a box online 1204 represents activity performed by control blocks such as radarsystem 1104, frame sequencer 1108, antenna controller 1112 and chirpgenerator 1110. A box on line 1206 represents activity performed byvarious low-level drivers.

In step 1210, the external computer sends ADC and chirp parameters. Theparameters define the operation of the ADC, such as the sample rate, anddefine the characteristics of the frequency ramp to be transmitted. Instep 1212, the radar system 1104 configured the ADC with the givenparameters. In step 1214, the external computer sends frame sequencesettings to frame sequencer 1108, and in step 1216, radar system 1104sets up frame sequencer 1108 with a chirp sequence that defines thetransmitted frequency ramp.

In step 1218, a start command is received from the external computer.Once this start command is received, radar system 1104 powers up RFcircuitry in step 1220, configures the chirp generator 1110 or hardwarePLL with current chirp settings in step 1222 and starts the framesequencer 1108 in step 1224. Frame sequencer 1108 triggers frames at thedesired rate until the system stops (step 1226).

In an embodiment, frame sequencer 1108 triggers frames according tosteps 1228 to 1242. In step 1228, frame sequencer 1108 triggers a frame.Receive and transmit antennas are enabled for the next chirp in step1230, and the frame sequencer 1108 sets up a DMA channel for IF sampledata in step 1232. In step 1234, the frame sequencer 1108 triggers thechirp generator 1110 to generate a frequency ramp. Next, frame sequencer1108 starts the ADC sampling in step 1236. When the chirp is complete,frame sequencer 1108 sends sampled data to the external computer (step1238), and the next chirp of the frame is processed (step 1240). In someembodiments, frame sequencer 1108 turns off the antennas to save powerin step 1242. When a stop command is received from the external computerin step 1244, the radar system powers down the RF circuitry in step1246.

In an embodiment manual trigger mode, analog RF circuitry is powered-upafter a start command from the external host computer. However, in someembodiments, the RF circuit continually powered-up. Chirps are triggeredupon receiving a command from the external host computer, and after thechirp is complete, sampled IF data is sent to the external hostcomputer. In one embodiment, no processing is applied to the sampleddata. The antenna setup may be changed at any time by sending a startcommand with new settings. The chirp settings may be changed at any timein some embodiments.

FIG. 13 illustrates a flow diagram 1300 of an embodiment manual triggermode of operation. Boxes along lines 1302, 1304 and 1306 indicate theflow of data at each step. A box on line 1302 represents activityperformed by communication protocol block 1102, and a box on line 1304represents activity performed by control blocks such as radar system1104, frame sequencer 1108, antenna controller 1112 and chirp generator1110. A box on line 1306 represents activity performed by variouslow-level drivers.

In an embodiment, a start command is received from an external computerin step 1310. Upon receipt of this start command, the radar system 1104powers up RF circuitry within the radar system (step 1312), configureschirp generator 1110 or a hardware PLL with the current chirp settings(step 1314) and enables the receive and transmit antennas within theradar system (step 1316). In step 1318, radar system 1104 sets upinternal routing for sampled data.

In step 1320, ADC parameters and chirp parameters are received from theexternal computer, and in step 1322, radar system 1104 configures theADC with the received parameters. In step 1324, radar system 1104configures the chirp generator 1110 or hardware PLL with the newlyreceived chirp settings.

When a trigger command is received from the external computer in step1326, radar system 1104 sets up a DMA channel for IF sample data (step1328), triggers chirp generator 1110 to generate a frequency ramp instep 1330, and starts ADC sampling (step 1332). When the chirp orfrequency ramp is complete, radar system 1104 sends sampled data toexternal computer in step 1334. Upon receipt of a stop command from theexternal computer (step 1336), radar system 1104 powers down RFcircuitry in the radar system (step 1338).

Referring now to FIG. 14, a block diagram of a processing system 1400 isprovided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Theprocessing system 1400 depicts a general-purpose platform and thegeneral components and functionality that may be used to implementportions of the embodiment radar system and/or an external computer orprocessing device interfaced to the embodiment radar system. Theprocessing system 1400 may include, for example, a central processingunit (CPU) 1402, memory 1404, and a mass storage device 1406 connectedto a bus 1408 configured to perform the processes discussed above. Theprocessing system 1400 may further include, if desired or needed, avideo adapter 1410 to provide connectivity to a local display 1412 andan input-output (I/O) Adapter 1414 to provide an input/output interfacefor one or more input/output devices 1416, such as a mouse, a keyboard,printer, tape drive, CD drive, or the like.

The processing system 1400 also includes a network interface 1418, whichmay be implemented using a network adaptor configured to be coupled to awired link, such as an Ethernet cable, USB interface, or the like,and/or a wireless/cellular link for communications with a network 1420.The network interface 1418 may also comprise a suitable receiver andtransmitter for wireless communications. It should be noted that theprocessing system 1400 may include other components. For example, theprocessing system 1400 may include power supplies, cables, amotherboard, removable storage media, cases, and the like. These othercomponents, although not shown, are considered part of the processingsystem 1400.

Embodiments of the present invention are summarized here. Otherembodiments can also be understood form the entirety of thespecification and the claims filed herein. One general aspect includes apackaged radio frequency (RF) circuit having a radio frequencyintegrated circuit (RFIC) disposed on a package substrate, a receiveantenna system disposed on the package substrate adjacent to a firstedge of the RFIC, a first transmit antenna disposed on the packagesubstrate adjacent to a second edge of the RFIC and electrically coupledto the first transmit port of the RFIC, a first plurality of solderballs disposed on the package substrate adjacent to the RFIC andelectrically connected to the RFIC; a second plurality of solder ballsdisposed on the package substrate adjacent to the receive antenna systemthat are electrically floating, and a ground wall disposed on thepackage substrate between the RFIC and the receive antenna system. TheRFIC includes a plurality of receiver circuits coupled to receive portsat the first edge of the RFIC and a first transmit circuit coupled to afirst transmit port at the second edge of the RFIC different from thefirst edge, and the receive antenna system includes a plurality ofreceive antenna elements that are each electrically coupled to acorresponding receive port.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. Thepackaged RF circuit where: the RFIC further includes a second transmitcircuit coupled to a second transmit port at a third edge of the RFICdifferent from the first edge and different from the second edge; andthe RF circuit further includes a second transmit antenna disposed onthe package substrate adjacent to the third edge of the RFIC andelectrically coupled to the second transmit port of the RFIC. In someembodiments, the second transmit circuit includes an input selectablebetween an unmodulated carrier and modulated carrier. The RFIC mayfurther include a bipolar phase shift key (BPSK) modulator coupled tothe second transmit circuit.

In an embodiment, the second edge and the third edge are each adjacentto the first edge. Each of plurality of receive antenna elements mayinclude a patch antenna; and the first transmit antenna may include apatch antenna. In some embodiments, the receive antenna system includesexactly four receive antenna elements. The ground wall may include aplurality of grounded solder balls disposed between the receive antennasystem and the RFIC. In some implementations, the packaged RF circuit isa ball grid array (BGA) package.

Another general aspect includes a system including: a packaged radiofrequency (RF) circuit having a radio frequency integrated circuit(RFIC) disposed on a package substrate and a circuit board coupled tothe packaged radio frequency (RF) circuit via a first plurality ofsolder balls, a second plurality of solder balls and grounded solderballs. The RFIC includes a plurality of receiver circuits coupled toreceive ports at a first edge of the RFIC, and a first transmit circuitcoupled to a first transmit port at a second edge of the RFIC differentfrom the first edge. The RFIC further includes a receive patch antennasystem disposed on the package substrate adjacent to the first edge ofthe RFIC that includes a plurality of receive patch antenna elementsthat are each electrically coupled to a corresponding receive port, afirst transmit patch antenna disposed on the package substrate adjacentto the second edge of the RFIC and electrically coupled to the firsttransmit port of the RFIC, a second transmit patch antenna disposed onthe package substrate adjacent to the third edge of the RFIC andelectrically coupled to the second transmit port of the RFIC, a firstplurality of solder balls disposed on the package substrate adjacent tothe RFIC and electrically connected to the RFIC, a second plurality ofsolder balls disposed on the package substrate adjacent to the receivepatch antenna system, where the second plurality of solder balls areelectrically floating, and a ground wall disposed on the packagesubstrate between the RFIC and the receive patch antenna system, wherethe ground wall including grounded solder balls. The packaged radiofrequency (RF) circuit also includes a circuit board coupled to thepackaged radio frequency (RF) circuit via the first plurality of solderballs, the second plurality of solder balls and the grounded solderballs.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. Thesystem where the circuit board includes a FR4 layer and a ground plane,where the ground plane is disposed on an opposite side of the circuitboard from the packaged radio frequency (RF) circuit. In someembodiments, the receive patch antenna system includes exactly fourreceive patch antenna elements. In some embodiments the packaged RFcircuit includes circuit includes a ball grid array (BGA) package.

A further general aspect includes a system including: a circuit board; aradio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) disposed on the circuit board,the RFIC including a plurality of receiver circuits coupled to receiveports at a first edge of the RFIC, and a first transmit circuit coupledto a first transmit port at a second edge of the RFIC different from thefirst edge, and a second transmit circuit coupled to a second transmitport at a third edge of the RFIC, wherein the first edge, the secondedge and the third edge are different from each other; a receive patchantenna system disposed on the circuit board adjacent to the first edgeof the RFIC, the receive patch antenna system including a plurality ofreceive patch antenna elements that are each electrically coupled to acorresponding receive port; a first transmit patch antenna disposed onthe circuit board adjacent to the second edge of the RFIC andelectrically coupled to the first transmit port of the RFIC; a secondtransmit patch antenna disposed on the circuit board adjacent to thesecond edge of the RFIC and electrically coupled to the second transmitport of the RFIC; a first plurality of solder balls disposed on thecircuit board adjacent to the RFIC and electrically connected to theRFIC; a second plurality of solder balls disposed on the circuit boardadjacent to the receive patch antenna system, where the second pluralityof solder balls are electrically floating; and a ground wall disposed onthe circuit board between the RFIC and the receive patch antenna system,the ground wall including grounded solder balls.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. Thesystem where the circuit board includes an FR4 layer and a ground plane,where the ground plane is disposed on an opposite side of the circuitboard from the RFIC. The system where the receive patch antenna systemincludes exactly four receive patch antenna elements. The system wherethe RFIC includes a frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radarfront-end. The system further including a baseband gesture recognitioncircuit coupled to the RFIC. The system where the baseband gesturerecognition circuit includes: a plurality of analog-to-digitalconverters (ADCs) coupled to intermediate frequency receive outputs ofthe RFIC; and an intermediate frequency processor coupled to theplurality of ADCs. In some embodiments, the second transmit antenna is apatch antenna or a Yagi-Uda antenna.

Another general aspect includes a radar system including: a plurality ofreceive antennas; a plurality of transmit antennas; a radar front-endcircuit including a plurality of receive circuits coupled to theplurality of receive antennas and a plurality of transmit circuitscoupled to the plurality of transmit antennas; an oscillator having anoutput coupled to the plurality of transmit circuits; and a radarprocessing circuit coupled outputs of the plurality of receive circuitsand a control input of the oscillator.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. Theradar system where the radar processing circuit includes a phase lockedloop coupled to the control input of the oscillator. In someembodiments, the phase locked loop includes an analog phased-locked loopcoupled to the control input of the oscillator and the radar processingcircuit. The phase locked loop may include software PLL having adigital-to-analog converter and an integrator coupled between an outputof the digital-to-analog converter and the control input of theoscillator.

In some embodiments, the radar processing circuit includes a frequencymodulated continuous wave (FMCW) generator coupled to the control inputof the oscillator. The FMCW generator may configured to produce amodulation bandwidth of between 2 GHz and 8 GHz, a minimum intermediatefrequency (IF) of between 6 KHz and 9 KHz, and a maximum IF between 150KHz and 250 KHz. The radar system may further include a digital signalprocessor coupled to outputs of the plurality of analog-to-digitalconverters. In an embodiment, the digital signal processor is configuredto perform a weighted FFT on each of the outputs of the plurality ofanalog-to-digital converters, and sum results of the weighted FFT toform a weighted sum. In a further embodiment, FMCW generator isconfigured to produce a modulation bandwidth of between 2 GHz and 8 GHz,a minimum intermediate frequency (IF) of between 3 KHz and 5 KHz, and amaximum IF between 800 KHz and 1.2 MHz. A center frequency of theoscillator may be set to be between 50 GHz and 70 GHz. In someembodiments, the radar system further includes a plurality ofanalog-to-digital converters having inputs coupled to correspondingoutputs of the plurality of receive circuits.

In various embodiments the radar system may further include a digitalinterface coupled to outputs of the plurality of analog-to-digitalconverters. The digital interface may be implemented, for example, usinga USB interface. In an embodiment, the radar processing circuit isconfigured to activate a first of the plurality of transmit circuits fora first period of time and then activate a second of the plurality oftransmit circuits a second period of time after the first period oftime. With respect to the manner in which the antennas are implemented,the plurality of receive antennas may include a plurality of Yagi-Udareceive antennas and the plurality of transmit antennas include aYagi-Uda transmit antenna. In other embodiments, the plurality ofreceive antennas includes a plurality of patch receive antennas and theplurality of transmit antennas include a plurality of patch transmitantennas. The plurality of patch receive antennas may be arrangedadjacent to a first edge of the radar front-end circuit such that afirst portion of the plurality of the patch transmit antennas isarranged on a second edge of the radar front-end circuit and secondportion of the plurality of the patch transmit antennas is arranged on athird edge of the radar front-end circuit. In some embodiments, thesecond edge is adjacent to the first edge and the third edge is adjacentto the first edge.

Another general aspect includes a method of operating a radar systemthat includes: receiving radar configuration data from a host thatincludes chirp parameters and frame sequence settings. The methodfurther includes receiving a start commend from the host after receivingthe radar configuration data; and after receiving the start command,configuring a frequency generation circuit with the chirp parameters,configuring a frame sequencer with the frame sequencer settings, andtriggering radar frames at a preselected rate.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. Themethod further including: receiving a stop command from the host; andstopping triggering the radar frames upon receipt of the stop command.The method may further include powering down RF circuitry of the radarsystem upon receipt of the stop command, and may further includepowering up RF circuitry of the radar system upon receipt of the startcommand. In some embodiments, triggering radar frames includes:triggering a frequency generation circuit to generate a frequency rampbased on the chirp parameters; receiving samples from ananalog-to-digital converter coupled to a receiver of the radar system;and sending the received samples to the host. Trigger triggering radarframes may further include: enabling receive and transmit antennas ofthe radar system at beginning of the radar frame; and disabling thereceive and transmit antennas of the radar system at end of the radarframe.

A further general aspect includes a method of operating a radar systemthat includes: receiving radar configuration data from a host thatincludes chirp parameters. Upon receipt of the radar configuration data,a frequency generation circuit is configured with the chirp parameters;a trigger command is received from the host; and upon receipt of thetrigger command, the frequency generation circuit is triggered toperform a frequency ramp based on the chirp parameters, samples arereceived from the radar system, and the received samples are sent to thehost.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. Themethod further including: receiving a start command from the host; uponreceipt of the start command, powering up RF circuitry of the radarsystem, and enabling receive and transmit antennas of the radar system;receiving a stop command from the host; and upon receipt of the stopcommand, powering down the RF circuitry. The method may further include,upon receipt of the start command, configuring internal routing forsampled data. In some embodiments, the method further includes, uponreceipt of the trigger command, starting an analog to digital convertercoupled to receivers of the radar system to start sampling.

A further aspect includes a radar system having a processor circuitconfigured to be coupled to radar hardware and a non-transitory computerreadable medium coupled to the processor circuit. The non-transitorycomputer readable medium includes an executable program that instructsthe processor circuit to perform the steps of receiving radarconfiguration data from a host, where the radar configuration dataincluding chirp parameters and frame sequence settings; and receiving astart command from the host after receiving the radar configurationdata. After receiving the start command, the executable programinstructs the processor circuit to configure a frequency generationcircuit with the chirp parameters, configure a frame sequencer with theframe sequencer settings, and trigger radar frames at a preselectedrate.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. Theradar system where the executable program instructs the processorcircuit to perform the further steps of: receiving a stop command fromthe host and stopping triggering the radar frames upon receipt of thestop command. The executable program may further instruct the processorcircuit to perform the further step of powering down RF circuitry of theradar system upon receipt of the stop command and/or perform the furtherstep of powering up RF circuitry of the radar system upon receipt of thestart command. In some embodiments, the executable program instructionstep of triggering the radar frames includes the steps of: triggering afrequency generation circuit to generate a frequency ramp based on thechirp parameters; receiving samples from an analog-to-digital convertercoupled to a receiver of the radar system; and sending the receivedsamples to the host. In various embodiments, the executable programinstruction step of triggering the radar frames further includes thesteps of: enabling receive antennas and transmit antennas of the radarsystem at beginning of the radar frame; and disabling the receiveantennas and the transmit antennas of the radar system at end of theradar frame. In some embodiments, the radar system further includesradar hardware that may include RF circuitry and the frequencygeneration circuit.

Another general aspect includes a radar system having a processorcircuit configured to be coupled to radar hardware and a non-transitorycomputer readable medium coupled to the processor circuit. Thenon-transitory computer readable medium includes an executable programthat instructs the processor circuit to perform the steps of: receivingradar configuration data from a host, where the radar configuration dataincludes chirp parameters; upon receipt of the radar configuration data,configuring a frequency generation circuit with the chirp parameters;receiving a trigger command from the host; and upon receipt of thetrigger command, triggering the frequency generation circuit to performa frequency ramp based on the chirp parameters, receiving samples fromthe radar system, and sending the received samples to the host.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. Theradar system where the executable program instructs the processorcircuit to perform the further steps of: receiving a start command fromthe host; upon receipt of the start command, powering up RF circuitry ofthe radar system, and enabling receive and transmit antennas of theradar system; receiving a stop command from the host; and upon receiptof the stop command, powering down the RF circuitry. The executableprogram may instruct the processor circuit to perform the further stepsof configuring internal routing for sampled data upon receipt of thestart command and/or upon receipt of the trigger command, starting ananalog to digital converter coupled to receivers of the radar system tostart sampling. In some embodiments, the radar system further includesradar hardware. The radar hardware may include, for example, RFcircuitry and the frequency generation circuit.

Another general aspect includes a method of operating a radio frequencysystem including a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) disposed ona circuit board. The method includes receiving a first RF signal using aplurality of receiver circuits of the RFIC that are electrically coupledto a corresponding plurality of receive patch antenna elements that aredisposed on the circuit board adjacent to a first edge of the RFIC. Themethod also includes transmitting a second RF signal using a firsttransmit circuit of the RFIC that is electrically coupled to a firsttransmit patch antenna disposed on the circuit board adjacent to asecond edge of the RFIC, and using a second transmit circuit of the RFICthat is electrically coupled to a second antenna disposed on the circuitboard adjacent to a third edge of the RFIC. The first edge, second edgeand third edge are different from each other. The method also includesshielding the first RF signal using a first plurality of solder ballsdisposed on the circuit board adjacent to the RFIC and electricallyconnected to the RFIC, a second plurality of electrically floatingsolder balls disposed on the circuit board adjacent to the plurality ofreceive patch antenna elements, and a ground wall including groundedsolder balls disposed on the circuit board between the RFIC and theplurality of receive patch antenna elements.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. Themethod where the second antenna includes a patch antenna a Yagi-Udaantenna. The method may further include downconverting the receivedfirst RF signal to an intermediate frequency to form an intermediatefrequency signal. In some embodiments, the method may further includeperforming an analog-to-digital conversion of the intermediate frequencysignal.

Advantages of embodiments of the present invention include the abilityto implement a high frequency radar system in a small, cost effectivepackage. Embodiments that utilize dummy solder balls are advantageous inthat they are mechanically stable and that the solder balls themselvesmaintain their integrity over many temperature cycles. In someembodiments, each solder ball may be configured to withstand greaterthan 500 temperature cycles.

A further advantage includes the ability to provide an accurate gesturerecognition system in a small form factor. Further advantages of someembodiments include the ability for a designer to design a highfrequency RF system without worrying about high frequency transitiondesign. Accordingly, system designers for embodiment RF radar systemsmay focus on the development of algorithms for processing the raw dataproduced by the embodiment RF hardware.

While this invention has been described with reference to illustrativeembodiments, this description is not intended to be construed in alimiting sense. Various modifications and combinations of theillustrative embodiments, as well as other embodiments of the invention,will be apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference to thedescription.

What is claimed is:
 1. A packaged radio frequency (RF) circuitcomprising: a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) disposed on apackage substrate, the RFIC comprising a plurality of receiver circuitscoupled to receive ports of the RFIC, and a first transmit circuitcoupled to a first transmit port of the RFIC; a receive antenna systemdisposed on the package substrate, the receive antenna system comprisinga plurality of receive antenna elements that are each electricallycoupled to a corresponding receive port; a first transmit antennadisposed on the package substrate and coupled to the first transmit portof the RFIC; a first plurality of electrically floating solder ballsdisposed on the package substrate; and a second plurality of solderballs forming all or part of a ground wall disposed on the packagesubstrate between the first transmit antenna and the receive antennasystem.
 2. The packaged RF circuit of claim 1, wherein: the RFIC furthercomprises a second transmit circuit coupled to a second transmit port ofthe RFIC; and the RF circuit further comprises a second transmit antennadisposed on the package substrate and electrically coupled to the secondtransmit port of the RFIC.
 3. The packaged RF circuit of claim 2,wherein the second transmit circuit comprises an input selectablebetween an unmodulated carrier and a modulated carrier.
 4. The packagedRF circuit of claim 3, wherein the RFIC further comprises a bipolarphase shift key (BPSK) modulator coupled to the second transmit circuit.5. The packaged RF circuit of claim 1, wherein: each of plurality ofreceive antenna elements comprises a patch antenna; and the firsttransmit antenna comprises a patch antenna.
 6. The packaged RF circuitof claim 1, wherein the receive antenna system includes exactly fourreceive antenna elements.
 7. The packaged RF circuit of claim 1, whereinthe second plurality of solder balls comprises grounded solder balls. 8.The packaged RF circuit of claim 1, wherein the packaged RF circuit is aball grid array (BGA) package.
 9. A system comprising: a packaged radiofrequency (RF) circuit comprising a radio frequency integrated circuit(RFIC) disposed on a package substrate, the RFIC comprising a pluralityof receiver circuits coupled to receive ports of the RFIC, a firsttransmit circuit coupled to a first transmit port of the RFIC, and asecond transmit circuit coupled to a second transmit port of the RFIC, areceive patch antenna system disposed on the package substrate, thereceive patch antenna system comprising a plurality of receive patchantenna elements that are each electrically coupled to a correspondingreceive port, a first transmit patch antenna disposed on the packagesubstrate and electrically coupled to the first transmit port of theRFIC, a second transmit patch antenna disposed on the package substrateand electrically coupled to the second transmit port of the RFIC, aplurality of solder balls disposed on the package substrate adjacent tothe receive patch antenna system, wherein the plurality of solder ballsare electrically floating, and a ground wall disposed on the packagesubstrate between the receive patch antenna system and at least one ofthe first transmit patch antenna and the second transmit patch antenna,the ground wall comprising grounded solder balls; and a circuit boardcoupled to the packaged radio frequency (RF) circuit via the pluralityof solder balls and the grounded solder balls.
 10. The system of claim9, wherein the circuit board comprises a FR4 layer and a ground plane,wherein the ground plane is disposed on an opposite side of the circuitboard from the packaged radio frequency (RF) circuit.
 11. A systemcomprising: a circuit board; a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC)disposed on the circuit board, the RFIC comprising a plurality ofreceiver circuits coupled to receive ports of the RFIC, a first transmitcircuit coupled to a first transmit port of the RFIC, and a secondtransmit circuit coupled to a second transmit port of the RFIC; areceive patch antenna system disposed on the circuit board, the receivepatch antenna system comprising a plurality of receive patch antennaelements that are each electrically coupled to a corresponding receiveport; a first transmit patch antenna disposed on the circuit board andelectrically coupled to the first transmit port of the RFIC; a secondtransmit antenna disposed on the circuit board and electrically coupledto the second transmit port of the RFIC; a plurality of solder ballsdisposed on the circuit board adjacent to the receive patch antennasystem, wherein the plurality of solder balls are electrically floating;and a ground wall disposed on the circuit board between the receivepatch antenna system and at least one of the first transmit patchantenna or the second transmit antenna, the ground wall comprisinggrounded solder balls.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein the circuitboard comprises a FR4 layer and a ground plane, wherein the ground planeis disposed on an opposite side of the circuit board from the RFIC. 13.The system of claim 11, wherein the RFIC comprises a frequency modulatedcontinuous wave (FMCW) radar front-end.
 14. The system of claim 13,further comprising a baseband gesture recognition circuit coupled to theRFIC.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein the baseband gesturerecognition circuit comprises: a plurality of analog-to-digitalconverters (ADCs) coupled to intermediate frequency receive outputs ofthe RFIC; and an intermediate frequency processor coupled to theplurality of ADCs.
 16. The system of claim 11, wherein the secondtransmit antenna comprises a patch antenna.
 17. The system of claim 11,wherein the second transmit antenna comprises a Yagi-Uda antenna.
 18. Amethod of operating a radio frequency system comprising a radiofrequency integrated circuit (RFIC) disposed on a circuit board, themethod comprising: receiving a first RF signal using a plurality ofreceiver circuits of the RFIC that are electrically coupled to acorresponding plurality of receive patch antenna elements disposed onthe circuit board; transmitting a second RF signal using a firsttransmit circuit of the RFIC that is electrically coupled to a firsttransmit patch antenna disposed on the circuit board and using a secondtransmit circuit of the RFIC that is electrically coupled to a secondantenna disposed on the circuit board; and shielding the first RF signalusing a plurality of electrically floating solder balls disposed on thecircuit board adjacent to the plurality of receive patch antennaelements, and a ground wall comprising grounded solder balls disposed onthe circuit board between the plurality of receive patch antennaelements and at least one of the first transmit patch antenna and thesecond antenna.
 19. The method of claim 18, further comprisingdownconverting the received first RF signal to an intermediate frequencyto form an intermediate frequency signal.
 20. The method claim 19,further comprising performing an analog-to-digital conversion of theintermediate frequency signal.